Introduction: On Cats and How I Learned to See Through Their Eyes
- My Animal Family
- On the Farm
- Cheshires in the Canyon
- The Vet Assistant Years
- The Cat Behaviorist: Filling a Void in Feline Behavior Expertise
- The Cat Bahavior Clinic
- What “Good Death”? The Crisis of Feline Euthanasia
- The Shelter and Abandonment Crisis
- Why I Wrote This Book
ONE: Mind-Throwing: Inside the Being of the Cat
- Anthropomorphism and Its Pleasures—and Pitfalls
- The Anthropomorphic Trap
TWO: Meet Your Cat on His Territory:Using the Three-Part C.A.T. Plan to ChangeYour Cat’s Behavior
- No Punishment, No Reprimand
- What Works: Withdraw Your Attention and Even Your Presence
- You Have the Power to Solve Your Cats’ Behavior Issues
- The Seven Classes of Behavior Problems in Cats
- The Elements of an Effective C.A.T. Plan
THREE: Life on the Wild Side—Where Even the Tamest Cats Live
- Cats: Self-Reliant, Highly Territorial, Champion Survivors
- Cats Can Make Friends, Too
- Cats: Forever Wild
- Taming the Wild: The Socialization Process
- Territoriality, Conflict, and Social Maturity
FOUR: Cat Etiquette: The Art of Introducing, or Reintroducing, Cats to Each Other
- Introductions
- Reintroductions and the Nagelschneider Method
- First Impressions: Desensitization, Habituation, and Counterconditioning
- Step 1: Setting the Stage Before Newcat Comes Home: The Safe Room and Pheromones
- Step 2: Making the First Scent Introduction: The Scent Sock
- Step 3: Mixing Scents Like a Real Social Facilitator: Allogrooming and Allorubbing
- Step 4: Creating Confident Explorers: Trading Places
- Step 5: Making the Visual Introduction—The Art of Smooth Transitions
FIVE: Purrtopia: Transforming Your Cats’ Territory
- The Mating Instinct: Humane Sterilization Reduces Many Behavioral and Health Problems
- Real Estate and Resources
- Dispersal, Time-sharing, and Choice of Paths
SIX: Psychology and Physiology: Does Your Cat Also Have a Medical Issue?
- Good Veterinary Hygiene
- Original Medical Causes Versus Habituated Behaviors
- Better Living Through Chemistry? Don’t (Automatically) Drug That Cat!
SEVEN: Feline Aggression: Accepting and Managing Your Cat’s Inner Wildcat
- What Not to Do: Punish, Reprimand, or Reach For
- Understanding Feline Aggression
- Prevention
- Types of Feline Aggression
- C.A.T. Plan for Play and Predatory Aggression
- Redirected Aggression
- Management of Redirected Aggression
- Territorial
Aggression - Fear-Induced Aggression
- Cat-to-Cat Aggression
- C.A.T. Plan for Territorial, Fear, and Cat-to-Cat Aggression
- Petting-Induced Aggression
- Status-Related Aggression
- C.A.T.
Plan for Petting-Induced and Status-Related Aggression
EIGHT: You’ve Got to Elim-i-nate the Negative: Thinking Outside Your Box to Get Cats into Theirs
- An Unnecessary Tragedy
- Out-of-the-Box Defecation
- Have You Ever Been Invited to a Fecal Ball?
- Maddening Middening, or Just a Stool Away from Home?
- Out-of-the-Box Urination
- C.A.T. Plan for Inappropriate Elimination
NINE: “X” Marks the Spot (or Spots)!: Urine Marking
- Marking for Communication
- What Cats Communicate When They Spray: Territory Marking, Information Gathering, Relational Pmail, Sexual Advertising, Pick-Me-Ups
- C.A.T. Plan for Spraying, Other Forms of Urine Marking, and Middening.
TEN: Yowl!—Excessive Meowing
- C.A.T. Plan for Excessive Meowing
ELEVEN: Destructive and Other Unwanted Behaviors
- Shredders and Snaggers: Why Cats Claw
- Declawing—Unnecessary and Inhumane
- The Story of Charlie Cat
- Prevention
- C.A.T. Plan for Unwanted Scratching
- Counter Crawling and Table Hopping: Why Cats Like High Places
- C.A.T. Plan for Counter Crawling and Table Hopping
TWELVE: The Compulsive Cat
- Overgrooming
- C.A.T. Plan for Overgrooming (Psychogenic Alopecia)
- Wool Sucking and Wool Chewing
- Pica
- C.A.T. Plan for Wool Sucking, Chewing, and Pica
- Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome
Cat Behaviorist, Author, Lecturer: Mieshelle Nagelschneider
